Burgau hat trick sparks Eagle win

First career hat trick gives Eagles 4th straight win

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Brett Burgau had never scored a hat trick for the New Ulm Eagle hockey team.

Tuesday night, he picked a great time to record his first.

The junior forward tallied two second period goals which came 40 seconds apart and then added the eventual game-clinching goal at the 12:10 mark of the third period as the New Ulm Eagles won their fourth straight hockey game with a 4-3 win over Austin at Vogel Arena.

Junior Jay Geisthardt had the other Eagle goal as New Ulm improves to 4-1 on the season and plays at Willmar Thursday.

Sophmore goalie Tyler Zollner turned in another great performance, stopping 17 of 20 Packer shots.

"This was a big win for us,"said Eagle coach Tom Macho. "In the overall rankings, Austin (a "AA" school) was like 50 points ahead of us because of their record (now 4-2) and who they have played -- it is a real good win. I was so pleased the poise of our kids -- they did what they had to do."

And what they had to do was fight back from a 1-0 deficit, overcome the rough style of play of the Packers (nine penalties including a 10-minute misconduct) and get a huge win.

Speaking of poise, one who showed a lot of poise was the sophmore Zollner in goal.

"He played well again," said Macho. "The last goal (which cut a 4-2 New Ulm lead to 4-3 with 30 seconds left in the game) I was scared -- but he needs to be in pressure situations. They had some power plays -- he was confident in himself. He felt a little bit of the pressure at the end of the game. But throughout the game, he played very steady. Good fundamentals -- he covered the puck when he had to. You can't ask for anything more."

The Packers would take a 1-0 lead at 4:36 of the first period when Brad Weichmann raced down the ice and beat Zollner on his glove side for a 1-0 lead -- a lead that held for the first period.

But in the second period the Eagles got to Packer freshman goalie Alex Petersen for two goals in a span of 40 seconds by Burgau.

"That (the two goals) was important," commented Macho. "We had taken the first period pretty well and all of a sudden, they popped in a goal and our heads went down. But to come back right after that -- to take charge of the game early in the second period, was huge."

The Packers knotted the game at 2-2 on Weichmann's second goal.

Then the fun started, with the number of players on the ice ranging from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3 to 5-on-4 to 5-on-3 -- you get the picture.

And it was one of those situations -- a 5-on-3 advantage for the Eagles -- that gave them a 3-2 lead when Jay Geisthardt put the puck by Petersen at the 10 minute mark.

It was a lead that New Ulm would never lose.

Austin came close to knotting the game in the third period when a Weichmann slap shot hit the pipe.

But at the 12:10 mark of the third period, the Eagles did put the game out of reach on one of the prettiest goals that you will see. Breaking down the ice, forward Tyson Anderson hit Burgau in full-stride who in turn drilled a slap shot by Petersen for a 4-2 lead.

"That was a beautiful pass," commented Macho about the play. "We told Tyson Anderson that he is snake-bit when it comes to scoring goals -- dish it off. He took a hard hit after he passed the puck and set up Burgau. For him (Burgau) to score three goals -- he is one of those great forwards but the puck doesn't go in the net for him."

Tuesday night, it did.

New Ulm also won the "B" game 3-2 with JJ Germscheid getting the hat trick for New Ulm.

AUSTIN 1 1 1--3

NEW ULM 0 3 1--4

FIRST PERIOD SCORING:

AUSTIN: Weichmann (Hansen) 4:36.

SECOND PERIOD SCORING

NEW ULM : Burgau (Fromm, Anderson) 1:06. NEW ULM : Burgau (Anderson, Geisthardt) 1:46.

AUSTIN: Weichmann ( Williamson) 3:14. NEW ULM : Giesthardt (Burgau, Macho) 10:00.

THIRD PERIOD SCORING:

NEW ULM: Burgau ( Geisthardt, Anderson) 12:10. AUSTIN : Hansen (unassisted) 14:30.